Ink drier



April 9, 1963 F. M. ANTONCICH INK DRIER Filed March so. 1960 8 4 6 5 o 2mm w +12 Q m .W M 4 5 M I [ma W 6 INVENTOR; FRANK M. A NTONCICH.

FIGS

United This invention relates to an improvement in'ink driers and dealsparticularly with an apparatus which may be supported to direct radiantheat against a newly printed sheet of paper to quickly dry the inkthereupon.

The drying of ink on a newly printed sheet is a problem which hasbothered the printing industry for a great number'of years. In manyinstances, gas burners have been mounted upon the delivery end ofprinting presses for heating the paperboard sheets or paper sheets asthey travel past the flame. In other instances, the paper is trainedabout heated rolls which heat the entire sheet and assist in'drying theink. Such driers have the obvious disadvantage that'the heat must undernormal conditions be applied against the surface of the sheet oppositethat hearing the ink so that the heat must travel through the thicknessof the sheet to dry the ink. Heated drying tunnels and heat lamps havealso been employed for this purpose. However, in previous forms of inkdriers, the heat penetrates into the sheet sufliciently to affect themoisture contained within the sheet, causing the sheet to shrink,wrinkle or curl.

Another tremendous problem in the printing industry is the presence ofstatic electricity in rolls and sheets of stock paper. Normally stockpaper is kept and stored in such quantity that it may be subjected to adegree of heat in an attempt to lessen static electricity before thepaper is used in printing. This process does not eliminate the staticelectricity but does lower it somewhat. Heat tubes and other forms ofheating elements are attached to presses with the sole intention oflessening or eliminating static electricity. These tubes or heatelements have varying degrees of success depending on variousconditions.

The use of the instant invention on the feeder end of a printing presshas the added accomplishment of eliminating static electricity.

In the case of offset printing or multicolor printing the ink builds upon the sheet to such a degree that there is the constant danger ofoffsetting on the bottom of the overlying sheet. Consequently pressesare equipped with a spray attachment which automatically coats the newlyprinted sheet with a light film of dust which is very often composed ofcornmeal in powdered form. This dusting process causes dust to build upin areas of the pres which make it necessary to cease operationsperiodically in order to remove the dust from the press. This is a timeconsuming, costly process.

The use of the instant invention eliminates the necessity of the use ofspray dusts since the ink dries almost instantaneouslythereby-eliminating any danger of olfsetting.

Another important feature of this invention is the provision of an inkdrier which may be used with a high degrce of safety and whichis-extrernely effective for its intended purpose.

In general, the device comprises an electrical heating element which issupported against a quartz plate which deflects the long infra red raysand causes these rays to be distributed evenly over the entire surfaceof the quartz plate. This particular type of heater gives off heat rayswhich develop a high degree of heat on the surface of the printed sheetswithout creating a high temperature in the air between the heater andthe sheets. Furthermore, the rays issuing from the heater apparentlyhave the property of reflecting from the surface of the sheet so thatrates atent change the moisture content of the sheet.

they are able to dry the ink on the surface without penetrating into thesheet to an extent necessary to appreciably As a result, the ink isdried without affecting the size of the sheet and without causing thesheet to shrink, wrinkle or otherwise change in shape. The degree ofheat required may be regulated by the use of one or more of the heatingelements within the drier. Should further adjustment be needed the driermay be moved closer or further removed from the surface of the newlyprinted sheet. The drier is absolutely safe with respect to causingpaper to become ignited should the heat become intense. The nature ofthe radiant heat issuing from the quartz plate is such that paper indirect contact with the quartz plate will not ignite but will merelychar.

These and other objects and novel features of the present invention willbe more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification andclaims.

In'the drawings forming a part of the specification:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the ink drier, portions of a printingpress shown broken away.

FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view through the device illustrated inFIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of a printing press showingone manner in which the heater may be used to dry the ink.

With reference first to FIGURE 2 of the drawings, the heater generallyindicated by the letter A includes a pair of quartz plates lit and 12 ofsubstantial thickness having panels 14 and 16 of'asbestos or othersuitable heat insulation'overlying the'inner or upper surface thereof.Heating elements 18 and 20 are embedded in the surface of the asbestospanels which are in face contact with the plates 10 and 12. The heatingelements may also lie in surface contact with the plates 10 and 12. Eachof these plates and panel structures are provided with electricalconductors 22 and are provided with separate electrical cords and plugs24 such as are shown in FIGURE 1, or are connected together in paralleland supplied with current by a single cord and plug 26 such as is shownin FIGURE 3.

Each of the heating units or assembled panels of asbestos and theirrespective quartz plates are enclosed in metal channels 27. Thesechannels tend to absorb heat which would otherwise be transferred to thealuminum housing presently to be described.

The plate and panel assembly is enclosed in a housing having a base 28and side Walls 30 and 32. The end walls 34 are unitary and form the endsof the housing. The side walls 30 and '32 are provided with outwardlyextending wings 36 and 38 for purposes later to be described.

The housing is further provided with an inner reflector 40 which "has athreefold purpose. It serves as a baffle between the electricalconductors and housing base and the plates and panels which become hotduring operation so that the heat is directed downwardly rather thanupwardly through the housing base 28 or the sides 30 and 32. Further,the inner reflector acts as a stabilizer for the plates. The porcelainelectrical outlet tubes 42 extend through the reflector therebymaintaining the plates and panels in parallel spaced relation within thereflector. The reflector may be secured to the housing in a variety ofways but the method illustrated in FIGURE 2 is preferable both from amaintenance standpoint and in production costs. The reflector isprovided with wings or extensions 44 and 46 which extend outwardly fromthe side walls 47' and 48. These wings are further provided withportions which overlie the wings 36 and 38 of the housing as indicatedat 50 and 52.

The plates 10 and 12 are held within the reflectors by a plurality ofcross straps 54 which are normally narrow bands of aluminum or the likeand are in face contact but all have at least one thing in common.

with the exposed surface of the quartz plates. These bands or straps maybe secured by screws 56 or the like to the housing or to the reflectorwings 44 and 46 as .shown in FIGURE 2.

sizes to adapt them to various sizes and types of printing presses. Onemanner of mounting the heater is illustrated in FIGURE 3. The heater Ais mounted on the framework 66 of the printing press which is indicatedgenerally by the letter B. Printing presses are varied in many ways allprovided with a delivery end or an area where the finished printedsheets such as the sheets 68 come to rest after being trained throughthe printing rollers 70. The

. heater A is mounted directly above the area where the printed sheetscome to rest. Heat from the heater is radiated in a controlled areadirected by the reflector and the angle of the wings on the housing.

Another method of utilizing the heaters in a multi-color printingoperation is to arrange heaters between printing color units so that onecoler printed phase is adequately dried before the next color is appliedto the sheet. The colors retain a greater degree of brilliancy as wellas being kept clean on the printed sheets.

A further utilization of the heaters of this type includes the drying ofphotographic plates such as magenta masks.

Normally plates of this type require about 2 /2 to 3 /2. hours of dryingtime in a specially ventilated room or cabinet. The use of the instantinvention cuts the drying time to /2 hour Without the aid of a fan orany special equipment.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principlesof construction and operation of my improvement in ink driers, and whileI have endeavored to They are set forth the best embodiment thereof, Idesire to have it 1 understood that changes may be made within the scopeof the following claims without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

I claim:

1. A radiant heater for use in drying ink in a printing apparatus, theheater including an elongated plate formed of fused quartz, a heatinsulating panel in face contact with one surface of said plate, anelectric heating element embedded in said panel in contact with saidplate, a housing having a base overlying said panel and plate, sidewalls enclosing the sides of said panel and plate and end wall enclosingthe ends of said panel and plate, a reflector within said housing spacedfrom said base and said side walls, said sides of said housing havingoutwardly extending wings, said reflector having outwardly extendingportions enclosing said outwardly extending Wings on said sides of saidhousing for holding said reflector in spaced relation within saidhousing, and means for supporting said housing with the other surface ofsaid plate directed A toward a printed sheet on the printing apparatus,

2. The structure of claim 1 and including supporting rods secured tosaid housing and extending beyond opposite ends thereof in substantiallyparallel relation.

3. The structure of claim 2 and including carrier blocks formed of ayieldable material and mounted on said printing apparatus and havingnotches therein adapted to register with said supporting rods.

4. A radiant heater including a quartz plate, a heat insulating panel inface contact With one surface of said plate and contiguous thereto, anelectric heating element embedded in said panel in contact With saidplate, a channel including a base overlying said panel and substantiallyequal in width thereto and sides enclosing and engaging the sides ofsaid panel and plate to hold them in contiguous relation, saidinsulating panel and quartz plate filling said channel, and means forsupporting said channel.

SQA radiant heater including a quartz plate, a heat I insulating panelin face contact with one surface of said plate and contiguous thereto,an electric heating element embedded in said panel in contact with saidplate, a 1

embedded in said panel in contact with said plate, a

channel including a base overlying said panel and substantially equal inwidth thereto and sides enclosing and engaging the sides of said paneland plate to hold them in contiguous relation, a reflector having acentral portion secured to said channel and side portions extendingoutwardly of the channel sides and in spaced relation thereto, terminalsconnected to said heating element and extending through, and insulatedfrom, said channel base and central portion of said reflector, and anouter housing including side and end walls enclosing said reflector andsaid channel, means connecting the outwardly extending side portions ofsaid reflector to the side walls of said housing to hold the samespaced, said housing also including a base Wall connecting said side andend walls thereof and spaced from the center portion of said reflectorthe extent necessary to enclose said terminals.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,091,714 Stanley Mar. 31, 1914 1,654,292 Keene et al Dec. 27, 19271,797,627 Wheeler Mar. 24, 1941 2,631,216 Ames Mar. 10, 1953 2,781,440Petersen et a1 Feb. 12, .1957 2,882,381 Zellers Apr. '14, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 453,861 France Apr. 15, 1913 181,405 Great Britain June 12, 1922564,853 France Oct. 30, 1923 69,149 France Apr. 28, 1958 1,188,729France Mar. 16, 1959

4. A RADIANT HEATER INCLUDING A QUARTZ PLATE, A HEAT INSULATING PANEL INFACE CONTACT WITH ONE SURFACE OF SAID PLATE AND CONTIGUOUS THERETO, ANELECTRIC HEATING ELEMENT EMBEDDED IN SAID PANEL IN CONTACT WITH SAIDPLATE, A CHANNEL INCLUDING A BASE OVERLYING SAID PANEL AND SUBSTANTIALLYEQUAL IN WIDTH THERETO AND SIDES ENCLOSING AND ENGAGING THE SIDES OFSAID PANEL AND PLATE TO HOLD THEM IN CONTIGUOUS RELATION, SAIDINSULATING PANEL AND QUARTZ PLATE FILLING SAID CHANNEL, AND MEANS FORSUPPORTING SAID CHANNEL.